Grubs/aerating/overseeding

[cyinne]

Yes, another yard thread.

So I am sure I have a grub problem. There are "pencil holes" all over my yard and also have bird ****/grass/dirt on my cement where it meets the lawn. There are also irregular brown patches all over the place.

First question- Is it too late to put down a dose of granular insecticide to eradicate the grubs and prevent them from doing any more damage?

Second question- I have scheduled an aeration for next Wednesday and then planned on puting down starter fertilizer and then overseeding the next day. Should I wait with any of these steps if I do put down the insecticide?

Third question- With all of the extra birds in in my yard searching for grubs will the birds eat the grass seed if I would overseed? What could I do to prevent it?

Thanks everyone for you answers- I know I am in good hands with my fellow CF'ers!

 

[cyinne]

Bump for morning.

 

[Prometheus]

Not too late for grub control. Although you need to start putting it down in the spring as typically it is a once per year application that will last the entire year. Pretty easy to confirm that you have grubs. Since they feed on the grass roots, the dead patches are easily pulled back revealing the soil and any grubs that are present. You should see improvement in as little as three weeks with the patchs slowly filling back in as the grubs are no longer clipping the grass roots.

No need to wait on the insecticide, put it down per instructions. It's always a good idea to do it prior to a rain or use sprinkler to water it down. Once you overseed you should maintain a watering program to keep the grass seed wet so it germinates. Don't let the seed dry out. Also need to make sure the seed gets good soil to seed contact, so raking out the dead grass and getting some soil exposed and using a rake to rake in the seed into the soil will give much better results.

Birds will eat very little if any. You can always put up a bird feeder and this will take care of it.

 

[VeloClone]

Get on top of that grub problem sooner rather than later before you have a bigger problem than just birds. Where there are grubs moles can't be far behind.

 

[cyclonesurveyor]

do deer eat grubs also? my back yard is all dug up like 50 squirrels has been rooting up nuts or something but i know we get deer once in a while. once i rake it up, i am going have some huge bare spots. :cry:

 

[Let's Go State]

No need to wait. You want to put down a high rate of Merit (imidacloprid) it will also help with lawn reestablishment. It has good residual. Is you see something that is pyrethroids only (cyfluthrin, cyhalothrin, pyrethrum) don't spend the money - unless you just want to kill ants.

Do all three while the holes are open and you will be very happy.

 

[blizzisu]

You want to use Merit in early summer. It won't kill grubs in late summer/fall. See below for more info on which pesticides to use to kill grubs this time of year. I have also linked a couple of good articles on the matter.

White grubs are best controlled when they are small and actively feeding near the soil surface, usually late July to mid-August. However, with the development of new grub control chemistry (e.g., imidacloprid [Merit] and halofenozide [MACH2]), applications in June and July have sufficient residual activity to kill the new grub populations as they come to the soil surface in late July through August.
Control of white grubs in late-fall or early-spring is difficult, at best, because the grubs are large and may not be feeding. Only trichlorfon (Dylox) and carbaryl (Sevin) formulations are available for such rescue treatments. The key to good control is to make an even application and water thoroughly.

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/ukturf/pubs.htg/Insects/white grub.PDF
Grubs and grub control in lawns

 

[Cyclone90]

You want to use Merit in early summer. It won't kill grubs in late summer/fall. See below for more info on which pesticides to use to kill grubs this time of year. I have also linked a couple of good articles on the matter.

White grubs are best controlled when they are small and actively feeding near the soil surface, usually late July to mid-August. However, with the development of new grub control chemistry (e.g., imidacloprid [Merit] and halofenozide [MACH2]), applications in June and July have sufficient residual activity to kill the new grub populations as they come to the soil surface in late July through August.
Control of white grubs in late-fall or early-spring is difficult, at best, because the grubs are large and may not be feeding. Only trichlorfon (Dylox) and carbaryl (Sevin) formulations are available for such rescue treatments. The key to good control is to make an even application and water thoroughly.

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/ukturf/pubs.htg/Insects/white%20grub.PDF
Grubs and grub control in lawns

I have a bad grub problem too. Noticed it in the spring and again late summer to present. The document says grubs don't damage turf in the spring, but I think the quick spring warm up and subsequent drought changed that. The lawn got stressed earlier than usual.

 

[leroycyclone]

do deer eat grubs also? my back yard is all dug up like 50 squirrels has been rooting up nuts or something but i know we get deer once in a while. once i rake it up, i am going have some huge bare spots. :cry:

Not deer, skunks and raccoons digging for grubs.

Squirrels are hiding nuts.

Because the spring came so early, the grubs arrived earlier too.

Apply grub control without fail next spring. You can also apply granular insect controls as a second application in the summer and those products are for grubs, spiders, ants, etc.

 

[Let's Go State]

You want to use Merit in early summer. It won't kill grubs in late summer/fall. See below for more info on which pesticides to use to kill grubs this time of year. I have also linked a couple of good articles on the matter.

White grubs are best controlled when they are small and actively feeding near the soil surface, usually late July to mid-August. However, with the development of new grub control chemistry (e.g., imidacloprid [Merit] and halofenozide [MACH2]), applications in June and July have sufficient residual activity to kill the new grub populations as they come to the soil surface in late July through August.
Control of white grubs in late-fall or early-spring is difficult, at best, because the grubs are large and may not be feeding. Only trichlorfon (Dylox) and carbaryl (Sevin) formulations are available for such rescue treatments. The key to good control is to make an even application and water thoroughly.

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/ukturf/pubs.htg/Insects/white%20grub.PDF
Grubs and grub control in lawns

I wouldn't do sevin because it is reliant on them ingesting it.

It works for me because I apply merit in the spring and fall. Pyrethroid base in the middle for everything else.

 

[cyinne]

I have a bad grub problem too. Noticed it in the spring and again late summer to present. The document says grubs don't damage turf in the spring, but I think the quick spring warm up and subsequent drought changed that. The lawn got stressed earlier than usual.

This is what pretty much happened to me. A couple of years ago I had a grub problem, but not last year. This year the yard got stressed early (Kentucky Bluegrass) and went dormant. As it has been greening back up the past 3 weeks there are spots in the yard that have never come back, and about a week ago I realized that the grubs were back. Just earlier today I applied Dylox. Now just waiting for it to turn midnight so I can water my yard and get that stuff worked in- (we have water restrictions here in Lincoln and I can only water outdoors on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday- SMH)

 

[UNIGuy4Cy]

Question just had my lawn overseeded today how much and how often should I water it? And for how long into the fall?

 

[Wesley]

Not deer, skunks and raccoons digging for grubs.

Squirrels are hiding nuts.

Because the spring came so early, the grubs arrived earlier too.

Apply grub control without fail next spring. You can also apply granular insect controls as a second application in the summer and those products are for grubs, spiders, ants, etc.

Voles dig from surface at night once grubs go up higher; otherwise their many tunnels to find grubs before that happens chews up a lot of square feet.

 

[blizzisu]

Question just had my lawn overseeded today how much and how often should I water it? And for how long into the fall?

The seeds need to have contact with the soil and need to stay moist (not wet) for 14 days with fescue/rye and 21-28 days with kentucky blue grass. How often and how long you should water varies with weather, irrigation system, sun vs shade, etc. but 10 minutes twice a day should be close for this time of year in Bondurant.

Once the new grass does germinate, it will be hungry so you should apply starter fertilizer at half rate every two weeks through October and then apply your winterizer fertilizer app once top growth stops but before the soil temp drops below the 40 to 50 degree range.

These are all generalizations, so with out know your exact situation this is the best I can come up with.

 

[UNIGuy4Cy]

The seeds need to have contact with the soil and need to stay moist (not wet) for 14 days with fescue/rye and 21-28 days with kentucky blue grass. How often and how long you should water varies with weather, irrigation system, sun vs shade, etc. but 10 minutes twice a day should be close for this time of year in Bondurant.

Once the new grass does germinate, it will be hungry so you should apply starter fertilizer at half rate every two weeks through October and then apply your winterizer fertilizer app once top growth stops but before the soil temp drops below the 40 to 50 degree range.

These are all generalizations, so with out know your exact situation this is the best I can come up with.

Thanks! Much appreciated. I ran the sprinkler about 25 minutes per spot last night and will do the same for the next two weeks.

 

[VeloClone]

Thanks! Much appreciated. I ran the sprinkler about 25 minutes per spot last night and will do the same for the next two weeks.

I overseeded/spot repaired a significant area of my lawn and am sprinkling for 15 minutes per zone twice a day. When it is as low humidity as it has been up here in MN, it can really dry out in 24 hours which isn't good for the germinating seed. You may want to consider doing it twice a day for a shorter duration.

My biggest problem is maturing trees that are making some areas too shady for the varieties that were planted. I used a sun shade mix that hopefully will help me out throughout the lawn sunny and shady areas alike.

 

[cyinne]

Last Thursday (27th) I had my yard aerated- then I put down starter fertilizer and overseeded with a turf fescue. I have watered yard 2x a day since then for 10 minutes in each zone. Generally, when could I start to see results? I AM ANXIOUS!

 

[cyclonesurveyor]

Not deer, skunks and raccoons digging for grubs.

Squirrels are hiding nuts.

Because the spring came so early, the grubs arrived earlier too.

Apply grub control without fail next spring. You can also apply granular insect controls as a second application in the summer and those products are for grubs, spiders, ants, etc.

My yard expert told we don't have grubs, but its the raccoons going after earth worms

 

[blizzisu]

Last Thursday (27th) I had my yard aerated- then I put down starter fertilizer and overseeded with a turf fescue. I have watered yard 2x a day since then for 10 minutes in each zone. Generally, when could I start to see results? I AM ANXIOUS!

Get down on your hands and knees and look into the holes left by aerator, you should see some germination. By this weekend it should be visible if your existing grass hasn't grown so high that you can't see the baby grass.

Here is a picture of my 8 day old kentucky bluegrass. Fescue germinates much faster than KBG.

 

[68clone]

I'm pretty sure that grubs eat the grass roots below the surface of the lawn, but do not make pencil holes. That's not saying that you don't have a grub problem. I just think something else is making the pencil holes.